The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-31
THE OLD HOME IN ENGLAND
Mr.. Halford Finds the City of Noting
ham a Locality of Much Interest.
Something About Town Which Is Said to Be
Nearly Three Thousand Years Old-The
Bailiwick of the Bold Robin Hood.


! thorne's dictum to the contrary have found
| Nottingham a place of much interest. and not
altogether so from the fact that it was here 1
first saw the light. OF course. nativity gives
glamour to any locality in the eye and mind of
any sound hearted person. The place of birth is
unique in memory and affection, and no matter
what ones present home and circumstances,
''how dear to the heart are the scenes Of our
childhood" So. of course, the first thing to do
was TO look at the house in which was born,
and the one from whence we left for the United
States, not far from forty years ago The latter
was easily recognizable, with all it's surround
ngs. The way Go Wesley Chapel, often
threaded, was readily retraced, and the very pew
in which sat found without difficulty.
All this, of course. is of little interest to any
one but myself. but it was the event toward
which. for me. the whole trip moved, and was
the climax Of many years Of hopeful expect
ancy.
Nottingham is the shire-town of an inland
county of England. 1t numbers about
800. 900 people, aud is one of the chief CONNER
cial points of England and as is we'll known is the
the center of the lace and hosiery manufacture
and trade. It lies almost midway between
Liverpool and London. just beyond beautiful,
picturesque Derbyshire, through which the ride
from Liverpool takes the traveller, introducing
him to those landscapes-fair folds and we'll
titled farms-which English, you know and
to be- found nowhere else 1t is in the Trent
valley, the beautiful .'Slver Trent" made
classic by the genius of Henry Kirka
White, the son of Nottingham
butcher, whose birth place is public
house, it having been butcher-shop when the
unfortunate young poet first opened his eyes
to this troublous world. You come into the
49,
Clifton grove, amid the shades of which Kirke
Viii tie so loved to wander, and which inspired so
many of his verses. Clifton Hall, the seat of
one of Englands gentry, peeps out from among
the cluster of oak foliage surrounding it. and to-
gether with the grove forms one of the chief
rural attractions of the city. Nottingham is
old place. legend takes it back to thousand
years before Christ. Authentic history gives it
place early in the present era, and one of its
old country seats, Broxstone Hall. can boast
founding in A. D., 220. OF course the present
building does not date go far back but the site
of the hall does The Romans were here, I'M
doubleday, for any number of Roman relics have
been exhumed in the neighborhooa. and are to be
found in the Castle Museum. OF course. the
castle is the point of chief interest. 1t stands
upon jutting promon.ory that appears TO have
been created for just such a purpose, and it was
early made rock of defense The castle comes
down from the twelfth century, and Edward "
made it the seat Of his court
1t was prominent in the war of the
roses, and the white rose of York generally
foated from its battlemented towers. It
within these walls that Isabella and Mortimer
carried on their fagtious adultery and 1t
from here that Edward III tore the knight from
the presence of the Queen while she pleaded for
"gentie Mortimer" The pair had constructed a
secret passage leading from outside into the
Queens apartments. and it through this
that Edward and his followers made their way.
'.Morrmers Hole" is still shown, aud when
lad have not infrequently trod the very steps
over which Mortimer was led on his way to the
scaffold. A few years ago, in reftting the
castle, circular flight of steps, with the exit
just inside tie walls and leading into the secret
passage. was discovered, and now shown to
the visitor. Nottingham and its castle figure
largely in English history. I have only given
a few points. and those from a very poor MEM
ory and with no claim to historical accuracy or
sequence.
Within two miles of Nottingham is VIOLATE
Hail. one of tho seats of Lord Middleton, the
present representative of the famous Willoughby
family. of which Francis. the philosopher, was
the most distinguished member. The present
land, and of one in the north of Scotland but of
all his possessions Violation HAIL. Is the finest
and most historic. With one exception it is the |
best expression Of pure Elizabethan architecture
in the kingdom. It commencedi in 1880, |
and finished in 1888. The stones were brought |
on the backs of donkeys from the quarries OF |
Ancaster, and paid for in Goals, which were car |
cied back in the way. It was typical |
English morning when drove out to Violation. |
crossing the Trent. and following its wlndings |
through old Milford the little thatched-cortaged |
village which Kirke White SO loved, and in
whose church yard he desired to lie Viewing |
the quiet of the old church dedicated to ST. Will |
fred. the young poet wrote
Here would I wish to sleep. This is the spot
Which have long worked out to lay my bones in;
Tired out and wearied with the riotous world,
Beneath this yew I would be sepulcherd."
My recollection had been that his wish had |
been complied with, and SO turned aside into |
the yard to stand by the grave of a genius whom |
Southey rescued from despair and introduced |
into English literature. The stone was not to be |
found, and calling at the back door Of the vicar
age I inquired of the woman. She thought |
few minutes and then called to another servant, |
and the two held deep consultation. Finally |
one of them said she believed she had seen the |
name of ''Kirk White" on one of the stones and |
/ had better continue the search I suggested |
that the vicar be asked but that awful creature
was at of his ~ calls and could not be dis
turbed. just then the maid came out from the
dining room, and I repeated the request that
she ask the vicar. This she did. and in
minute or two returned with the information
that Kirke White was buried at Cambridge,
where his body taken and inferred, and a
suitable monument reared to his memory by the
generosity of Capel Loft, who was the guiding
friend of the pa1e-faced butchers lad. The
vicar did me, and 1 thus escaped the
of blunder committed by reason
of ignorance and the absence of a guide book. /
have not had of the latter things in my
hand since started, but if there many
nhn hnra To- cra 70 ham